Ain't It Good To Know
by katbybee
Summary: This story is totally AU. Murdock's in big trouble… and it takes a special friend to bail him out. I recommend listening to the song "You've Got a Friend," by James Taylor as you read. UUD.


This story is totally AU. Murdock's in big trouble… and it takes a special friend to bail him out. I recommend listening to the song "You've Got a Friend," by James Taylor as you read. UUD.

 **Mid-1980's**

 **Los Angeles County**

 _Ow_. Murdock was pretty sure the seat was supposed to be under him, and not above him. And that glass? Should probably be in front of him…shouldn't it? Uh, and not shattered would be good here. He was tired…really tired. So, a nap. Yeah. A nap. He closed his eyes and faded away.

"Wake up, stupid. You can't go to sleep."

"Huh?"

"I said, you can't go to sleep. You'll die if you do."

Murdock frowned and looked around. He was alone and trapped in the mangled helicopter. His legs were caught and felt numb. He couldn't move them. One arm was trapped behind the pillar at a really awkward angle.

He looked over at Billy. "Well, seein' as I ain't goin' nowhere and the 'mergency beacon's broke an'"— he stared at the shattered webbing of broken glass—now tinged a disturbing shade of pink, "looks like I might be leakin' some vital fluids, muchacho, dyin' jus' might be a foregone conclusion."

Billy considered the problem for a while and finally huffed in frustration. "Fine. Where are the rest of the boys?"

Murdock's eyelids were drooping, and his thoughts were fuzzy. "Wha—who? Oh, I dropped 'em off at the cabin. S'posed ta pick 'em up in 'bout three days. Han'bel's doin' a survival trainin' but I gotta be back fer a session wit' Richter inna couple days."

The pilot's eyes closed, and he was quiet for a long time.

Billy sat quietly watching his best friend. _There was no choice_. He licked Murdock's cheek, and knew he was almost out of time… He whispered in the unconscious pilot's ear, "I'll be back. Don't you die on me!"

 **~AT~**

Billy left the wreckage and took off at a fast lope. One nice thing about Billy. He paid close attention to everything Murdock said, unlike some humans. And he was a very fast study. If he had been given hands instead of paws, he could have flown nearly as well as his friend. This also meant that he had an unerring sense of direction.

He knew they had flown over a small village not too long before the crash. And so, he was able to reach civilization fairly quickly. Fortunately, there was quite a bit of flat land between him and the village… the only hard part would be getting someone to look down into the ravine. Getting _to_ help was the easy part. The hard part would be convincing someone to help them. That was always the hard part. So hard in fact, that he had _never_ been able to do it. But this time, he had an ace in the hole. _He hoped_.

Billy scratched at the front door. The woman frowned. It was fairly late, and visitors from town were rare at this time of night. She turned off the stereo and opened the door. She started to close the door when she saw there was no one there, until she heard a whine, and looked down. A small, scruffy brown and white dog sat looking up at her. He immediately began barking and running in circles.

She opened the door wider. "Oh, you are so cute! Are you lost? Come here, boy! I can help you!"

 _Yes, you can,_ thought Billy. _But only if you come with me right now! And hurry it up!_

Billy ran straight for her van, persisting until she got inside and let him in. She proved to be smarter than most humans he had met, and he was able to get her to head out towards the crash site with a minimum of fuss.

Getting her to stop in the right area proved to be more problematic and he briefly considered biting her, but finally settled for a bloodcurdling yowl instead. She slammed on the brakes, and he pawed the door frantically. She let him out, and he ran to the edge of the ravine barking madly.

To his great relief, she got the message, and called for help from her car phone immediately. He watched from the sidelines as police cars showed up, and an air ambulance. He ran down to the wreckage as they prepared to make the rescue. He was worried, but at least, he was sure Murdock would be okay now. He leaned in close and licked his master's face as they were loading him onto the gurney.

Murdock's eyes flickered open for a moment, and he gestured weakly with one hand. He mumbled, "C'mon, Billy, get up here. Than's man."

Billy settled comfortably on Murdock's chest, only dodging slightly when the paramedic lifted Murdock's wrist to take his pulse.

Billy grinned his doggy grin at his best friend. "Anytime, muchacho…just don't make me do it again, anytime soon, okay?"

 **~AT~**

The rescue was effected quickly and efficiently. Murdock was packaged for transport and brought up from the ravine. He was transported to the hospital, and his team notified of his accident by a ranger from a nearby station…who also helped transport them back to town. They were at the hospital in record time. They were stunned when the doctors there told them that if he had not gotten help when he did, he would have bled out within a few hours.

Hannibal approached the young woman who had found Murdock. She was a lovely woman, with short dark hair and bright blue green eyes. Hannibal smiled at her. "Thank you so much. If you hadn't happened along, our pilot would have died."

"Oh, I didn't happen along… his dog came and got me. Scratched on my door and got me to go and find him. Was terribly insistent and everything. I felt really bad that I couldn't find him after the rescue. I looked everywhere."

Hannibal frowned. "Describe the dog, will you please." By this time, Face and B. A. had joined them and were listening to the conversation. They both knew where Hannibal was going with this.

"Oh, he was fairly small, a Jack Russell mix I think, a mutt really. Brown and white, with bright brown eyes. Why?"

Startled, Face breathed, "Billy!"

And Dr. Kelly Stevens smiled at them. "Oh, is that his name? Well, I hope he finds him. I'm a veterinarian, and if he ever needs one, tell him to come and see me. I'll give Billy free care for life!" She handed Hannibal her card, and left the ER, leaving behind an extremely mystified A-Team.

 **~The End~**

 **A/N:** As you guys have probably figured out, one of my all-time favorite canon pairings was Murdock and Kelly. (Though they haven't met here, the connection is there.) The inspiration for this story was an old episode of "Highway to Heaven," which depicted an angel dog saving his family, so I just let my imagination run with it, (though Billy is no angel, lol!) Canon has it that Billy was a dog Murdock had as a child… What do you think?


End file.
